Nova News: August/September at Villanova University

Nova News is a monthly look at news and events across the University. This edition of Nova News highlights upcoming University-wide initiatives, such as the 10th anniversary celebration of the “One Book Villanova” program and the annual St. Thomas of Villanova Day of Service, during which thousands of Villanova students, faculty, staff and alumni will volunteer their time at local service organizations. As the new academic year begins, the University will host a number of special events covering a wide variety of topics, including the 100th anniversary of WWI, and other lectures from distinguished University faculty. In addition, Villanova education faculty experts are available to discuss back to school topics from nutrition education to the Common Core State Standards Initiative, class size and education funding.

UNIVERSITY

Villanova Welcomes Class of 2018 to Campus at Freshmen Move-In Day

On Villanova’s campus preparations for the start of another academic year are in full swing. The 1,670 freshmen that comprise the class of 2018 converged on campus Aug. 20 for Freshmen Move-In Day. Orientation takes place Aug. 21-24 followed by the start of classes on Aug. 25. For further details and information about media access and photo opportunities, contact Media Relations.

One Book Villanova Program Kicks Off 10th Anniversary Celebration with Visit by Acclaimed Author Wes Moore

The University will begin a year-long celebration of the 10th anniversary of its popular One Book Villanova community reading program with a presentation by Wes Moore, the author of this year’s One Book selection, The Other Wes Moore: One Name, Two Fates. Moore’s appearance, open to the public, will be held at 7 p.m. in the Pavilion on the University’s Main Campus. To learn more, click here.

Villanova Partners with Neighborhood Agencies throughout Greater Philadelphia for St. Thomas of Villanova Day of Service Sept. 27

On Saturday, Sept. 27, thousands of Villanova University students, faculty, staff, alumni and their families will come out in force to partner with local service organizations and neighborhood agencies throughout the Greater Philadelphia region to volunteer and celebrate the ninth annual St. Thomas of Villanova Day of Service. One of the largest single-day service events in the region, the Celebration honors the University’s patron saint known for his great charity to the poor and marginalized. The Villanova community will fan out to more than 150 community sites to pitch in on a wide variety of service projects. For more information, click here.

Villanova Theatre Opens 2014-15 Season with “Fallen Angels”

Villanova Theatre opens its 2014-15 season with “Fallen Angels,” a rollicking romantic comedy by Noel Coward. The play revolves around a pair of stylish London socialites who learn that a mutual long-ago-lover is coming to town for an impromptu visit. The two women must grapple with their rekindled desire for the fervid Frenchman. Can their friendship – not to mention their marriages – survive it? Passions soar, spirits fly, and insults are hurled in this intoxicatingly charming comedy from the author of “Blithe Spirit” and “Private Lives.” For more information, click here.

COLLEGE OF LIBERAL ARTS & SCIENCES

Back to School Faculty Experts – Issues in Education

The days are growing shorter and summer vacation is quickly drawing to a close. For parents and children across the country, preparations for the start of another academic year are in full swing. Villanova education professors Jerusha Conner, PhD and Edward Fierros, PhD, are available to provide expert comments on some of the hottest issues in education today, including the Common Core State Standards Initiative, class size, education funding, technology in the classroom and special needs students. For more information, please contact Media Relations.

Womens' Prisons and Punishment Examined in New Book

With recent Netflix hit "Orange is the New Black" drawing attention to women’s prisons, Jill McCorkel, PhD, has her own take on prison policies in her recently published book, Breaking Women: Gender, Race and the New Politics of Imprisonment. McCorkel, an associate professor of Sociology and Criminology, will discuss how four years of research in a major U.S. women’s prison helped her to uncover the reasons tougher drug policies have so greatly affected those incarcerated there, and how the very nature of punishment in women’s detention centers has been deeply altered as a result. She will speak about the subject at 2:30 p.m., Sept. 16 on Villanova’s campus. To learn more, click here.

In commemoration of the 100th anniversary of World War I, Jeffrey Johnson, PhD, a Villanova professor of history, will discuss the European diplomatic crisis of July 1914 that followed the assassination of the heir to the Austro-Hungarian throne, and led to “The War to End All Wars.” The lecture, titled “From the Pistol of June to the Guns of August 1914: Beginning the Self-Destruction of Imperial Europe” will be held at 4 p.m., Tuesday, Sept. 23 on Villanova’s campus. For more information, click here.

The National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) has announced that Barbara Romaine, a faculty member in Villanova University’s College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, has been selected as one of 20 recipients of the NEA Literature Translation Fellowship for 2015. Romaine, who teaches in the Arabic Studies Program in Villanova’s Institute for Global Interdisciplinary Studies, will translate into English the historical novel by Egyptian writer Mohamed al-Mansi Qandil entitled, A Cloudy Day on the Western Shore. To learn more, click here.

SCHOOL OF BUSINESS

Villanova Economist Available to Discuss Casino Closings

A series of recent announcements about the closing of several Atlantic City casinos have hit the shore resort hard. Villanova School of Business Economist David Fiorenza, an expert on municipal finance and the economics of the entertainment industry, is available to comment on the effect the closings will have on the local and regional economy. For more information, or to schedule an interview, contact Media Relations.

Center for Church Management and Business Ethics Preparing Seminarians for Future Parish Management

The need for priests and lay church managers to understand how to manage parish finances has never been greater than it is today. For that reason it is more critical than ever that seminarians be exposed to their future management role sooner rather than later. The VSB’s Center for Church Management and Business Ethics offers a certificate program in parish management custom designed for those who will soon take on the financial as well as spiritual leadership of their parish. Students enrolled in the program must successfully complete specialized coursework in accounting, financial reporting, human resources, civil law and social media. For more information, click here.

Michael Tomczyk has been named Innovator in Residence at the Center for Innovation, Creativity and Entrepreneurship (ICE Center). Tomczyk has joined Villanova to assist in enhancing opportunities for innovation at the University and has spent the majority of his career working in the field of innovation. As a technology pioneer, he is best known for his role in the development and launch of the first home computers in the 1980s. He was instrumental in the launch of CT scanning, automated teller machines, the volunteer Army, classroom networks and numerous Internet applications. For more information, click here.

COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING

The Role of Suppressed Bone Turnover in Fractures

Bisphosphonates—the most commonly used class of drugs in osteoporosis treatment—have been effective in preventing osteoporotic fractures by suppressing bone turnover. But, increasing evidence shows a possible link between bisphosphonate use and atypical femoral fractures. Associate Professor Ani Ural, PhD, director of the Computational Biomechanics and Solid Mechanics Laboratory, is conducting research into the changes in material composition, organization, and fracture resistance of bone resulting from suppressed bone turnover. The goal of this research is to advance understanding of the effects of osteoporosis treatments on bone quality in order to help identify those patients who are at risk of atypical femoral fracture. To learn more, click here.

Mechanical Engineering Students Represent U.S. in International RobotX Challenge

Villanova, in collaboration with Florida Atlantic University, has been selected as one of three university teams to represent the United States in the inaugural Maritime RobotX Challenge competition. The Villanova/Florida team, along with MIT-Olin College and Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University will travel to Marina Bay, Singapore in late October 2014 to compete against each other and 12 teams from Singapore, Australia, South Korea and Japan. Teams selected for the RobotX Challenge are required to outfit a Wave Adaptive Modular Vessel (WAM-V) with sensors, computers and software, completing courses autonomously based on a variety of maritime surface vehicle missions. The winning team receives a $100,000 prize. For more information, click here.

Villanova Engineers Design Device to Monitor Head Injuries

Edmond Dougherty, director of Engineering Entrepreneurship, and a team of Villanova engineering students, have designed a device to monitor and log head impacts in athletes. The device is able to collect 16 GB of activity data over multiple sports spanning long periods of time (up to decades). The data is stored on a micro SD card, and can be copied via USB to a data base where it can be used to evaluate player performance over the years. To learn more, contact Media Relations.

COLLEGE OF NURSING

Nursing Professor Performs Extraordinary Work with American Military Hospital in Germany

A local couple is performing extraordinary work at Landstuhl Regional Medical Center (LRMC) in Germany, lending their expertise to the surgeons and other healthcare personnel caring for soldiers injured while serving in Iraq. Carol Weingarten, a professor at Villanova’s College of Nursing, along with her husband, Dr. Michael Weingarten, has traveled to LRMC for six consecutive years. She has been instrumental in forming Villanova’s “Joining Forces Initiative,” a collaboration between Villanova faculty and LRMC nurse scientists that aims to bring understanding of and support to America’s soldiers and veterans. For more information, contact Media Relations.

America’s childhood obesity epidemic continues to make headlines with more than one-third of the nation’s children and adolescents classified as overweight or obese, according to some statistics. Erin Winterhalter, director of Villanova’s Center for Obesity Prevention and Education at Villanova University (COPE), can offer insight into the topic of childhood obesity, highlighting its causes and remedies. For more information, or to arrange an interview with Winterhalter, contact Media Relations.

“Toms River: A Story of Science and Salvation” Launches College of Nursing’s 20th Annual Health & Human Values Lecture Series

Sometimes referred to as “the Erin Brockovich of Toms River,” Villanova College of Nursing alumna Lisa Davenport Boornazian will tell how she discovered the cause of a cluster of pediatric cancer cases under her care at The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) and what she did about it. The chronicle of her fight to close the Toms River chemical plant that was sickening her young patients is the subject of a book that received this year’s Pulitzer Prize for General Non-fiction. To learn more, click here.

The Clinic for Asylum, Refugee and Emigrant Services (CARES) in the School of Law at Villanova University is an international human rights and immigration clinic in which students represent refugees who have fled human rights abuses in their home countries to seek religious or political asylum in the United States. Working in pairs, CARES students are assigned to represent one or more refugees in court proceedings before an immigration judge. CARES students’ work each semester has resulted in saved lives and reunification of clients with family members. For more information, click here.

About Villanova University: Since 1842, Villanova University’s Augustinian Catholic intellectual tradition has been the cornerstone of an academic community in which students learn to think critically, act compassionately and succeed while serving others. There are more than 10,000 undergraduate, graduate and law students in the University's six colleges – the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, the Villanova School of Business, the College of Engineering, the College of Nursing, the College of Professional Studies and the Villanova University School of Law. As students grow intellectually, Villanova prepares them to become ethical leaders who create positive change everywhere life takes them.

About Villanova

Villanova University was founded in 1842 by the Order of St. Augustine. To this day, Villanova’s Augustinian Catholic intellectual tradition is the cornerstone of an academic community in which students learn to think critically, act compassionately and succeed while serving others. There are more than 10,000 undergraduate, graduate and law students in the University’s six colleges.